A former Bush administration official whose job it was to implement No Child Left Behind is urging her fellow Republicans to pass student loan reform legislation that also helps community colleges and early childhood education.

Here is a list of the 10 most important education policy issues with which we all will wrestle in 2010. It comes courtesy of the non-profit American Association of State Colleges and Universities. The list includes fiscal crises facing the states, student readiness, teacher effectiveness, and education for veterans.

Community colleges are big news these days. With skyrocketing enrollments, declining state funding and a high profile champion--Second Lady Jill Biden, a professor at Northern Virginia Community College--the schools that educate almost half of the country’s undergraduates are finally getting the attention they deserve. There is another change on the community college landscape that is causing controversy: Whether the two-year schools should be allowed to offer four-year degrees.

Here is the story of one mother whose son attended a D.C. middle school and often got hungry in the late morning before his scheduled lunch, which was close to 1 p.m. He was not, however, allowed to eat. Read what she wrote, and then tell us if your children can eat in school.... "When should our kids be allowed to eat? Is five hours too long for kids to go without any food at all?